Yeah, not exactly quiet either—the third shadow let out a scream, probably waking up Yayoi's household. But the fight happened so fast, from the first move to now, not even a minute had passed. The Yayoi family were probably still putting on clothes and lighting torches, didn't even have time to rush out.
But what about that big group of villagers with bamboo spears and bamboo bows?
He'd planned on charging out and giving the leader a shot right in the face, smash him up till he wished he were dead, then swinging the electric stick to knock down a bunch—slaughtering his way in and out like a madman to scare the hell out of the enemy, fake some divine intervention, steal the thunder, take control of the situation, and make everything go by his tempo. But where were the people?
Harano just stood there awkwardly in the yard. To ensure his and his dumb son's safety, he'd drawn up six contingency plans, twelve backup preps, eighty-eight different ways to respond, and hyped himself up to the max—only to find out it was all for nothing. Only three damn midgets came after me? Isn't Samurai hunting supposed to have the whole village mobilized?
Otherwise, what if there's a snitch? Gotta drag everyone into the mud, right? Don't these villagers get basic logic? Are they really that stupid?
Or maybe I'm the one who got it wrong? Paranoid for nothing, guarded like an idiot, and ended up playing the fool?
Suddenly I feel like a bit of a clown…
"Sir, what happened?!"
While Harano was busy being suspicious in the yard, Jiulang's family rushed out of the side house with torches. Jiulang had just recovered from a serious illness but was still gripping a short knife, face full of murderous intent. Clearly not a stranger to combat. Still, his voice was tinged with uncertainty—they'd been taking turns with Yayoi on night watch, and had been shaken awake by Yayoi when he heard someone scream. Now, everyone was totally confused, with no idea what just went down.
"It's nothing…" Harano glossed it over, his dark, probing eyes quickly scanning their faces, then turning to the cattle shed and asking coldly, "Where's Tao Liulang and Jing Qilang?"
Could it be those two punks turned on us?
Yayoi immediately ran to the cattle shed, and in a blink Tao Liulang and Jing Qilang stumbled out, eyes all bleary with sleep. Looked like they were out cold and hadn't noticed a thing.
Well, that makes sense. In the dead of night, just because someone yells in one house doesn't mean everyone would wake up.
Harano was totally lost now. After a moment, he turned to the house, pointed, and ordered the Tao brothers: "Three bandits came, and I've already taken them down! Go tie them up and drag them out!"
The Tao brothers froze for a second, but didn't hesitate—charged straight into the house, cursed a few times, then dragged out the three guys tied up with their belts, and even confiscated two short knives and a hand axe for good measure.
Jiulang seemed to catch on, face darkening as he set his knife on the ground, disarmed himself, and raised a torch to go check. When he saw the strangers on the ground, he breathed a huge sigh of relief and said to Harano, respectfully, "Sir, they're not villagers. Should we wake them and interrogate them now?"
"No need, one of them's already awake." Harano nudged the shortest one with his foot—the third guy who'd rushed in—coldly said, "Stop playing dead. I know you're awake. Who are you three?"
"Idiot, I'm not with those two!" The little guy had only been zapped once, blacked out for just a moment, but then Harano kicked him hard in the hip and sent him crashing into the wall. Now he could barely move, his throat was sore, and he had no strength left to fight back, so he faked being unconscious. Since that was busted, he just started cursing, "Those two are just Kawamata Group cannon fodder—you blind or something? Don't lump me in with scum like that!"
"Kawamata Group?" Harano looked to Jiulang.
Jiulang quietly explained, "Sir, they're a river pirate gang on the Nongwei border. Rob people on the Changliang River and nearby waterways. Sometimes they take jobs shipping goods too."
"Roughly how many?"
"Uh, hard to say, a few leaders, total scattered like a few dozen I think."
Harano started to piece it together. These river pirates had probably been delivering goods to Nagano City or having fun there, ran into him by chance, saw a chance to score easy loot, figured they could do it secretly—just a quick payday. No idea when he'd caught their eye though—he'd been paying attention to his tail the whole way home and never spotted anyone following.
Well, whatever, deal with that later. He turned to the little guy on the ground and asked, "They're from Kawamata, but what about you?"
"I'm here to save your life!" the little guy shot back, "Because of those six Wen you gave me!"
That was the truth—he really had come to save Harano's sorry ass. Of course, after saving him, taking half his money would only be fair. That's just justice—robbing from the robbers.
Mmm, can't take all of it, though—it's over a hundred pounds, he couldn't carry it. Even half would be a stretch.
Harano blinked, took the torch and shoved it in the little guy's face for a closer look, then exclaimed, "It's you?!"
It was that "Blind Mage" pipa-playing beggar he'd met during the day—but now the kid was definitely not blind, face twisted with rage, eyes bulging with fury.
The beggar piped up, righteously, "Yeah, it's me! I tried to warn you someone had their eye on you, but you just stood there looking dumb—serves you right to get…." He trailed off; the situation was clearly the opposite of what he'd expected. Harano had obviously been prepared and laid out both river pirates in seconds—even took him down as well. So much for his rehearsed speech.
Harano, confused, asked, "When did you warn me?"
"Quit pretending! I played the pipa to warn you, to let you know you were being tailed. Don't tell me you didn't get it! If you didn't get it, why were you on guard? And now you're safe, at least half thanks to me. But you still managed to injure your savior and tie me up too—are you even human? Shameless, despicable, rotten bastard! You'll get what's coming to you!"
Loyalty above all—hearing all this, Tao Liulang and Jing Qilang, loyal to a feudal fault, couldn't take it and Tao Liulang landed a kick on the beggar, shouting, "Bastard! Watch your mouth when talking to my master! No disrespect!"
The beggar was unfazed, screeched even louder, "You two are even dumber! When you travel, don't go around bragging about where you live—basic stuff! Some weaving house clerk asks and you blab away, almost like you want your idiot master to get robbed! The master's a moron, the houseboys are morons, you're all a nest of morons, soon to die from sheer stupidity!"
The Tao brothers' faces twisted in an instant, then went pale—they looked at Harano in panic. Back at the cloth shop, Harano had been picking out fabric, asking all about origin and quality, haggling, and took a while. The two of them had been bored and just chatted by the door with the clerk—the usual small talk. Who'd think that'd screw everything up?
They'd just had a meal of white rice, and all they did was chit-chat—never thought it would put their lives at risk!
Harano didn't blame them—stuff like this is impossible to prevent. He hadn't even thought of it before. He just said, "It was an honest mistake. Just watch out next time."
The Tao brothers both breathed a huge sigh of relief. Tao Liulang immediately gripped his short knife, eager to make up for his slip, glared fiercely at the three bandits, and asked Harano, "Sir, should we…?"
Harano turned to Jiulang. "Normally, in these cases, what would locals do?"
Jiulang bowed his head and replied, "Bandits are usually handed over to Hosokawa Castle—for hard labor or execution."
Harano had no objections. As long as it wasn't a breach of principle, you followed their rules while on their turf—common sense and the best way to avoid future hassles. So he pointed at the two river pirates, "Do as you said. And as for this one…"
He sensed the beggar was telling the truth; these three probably weren't together. He wasn't planning on "officially handling" the beggar, but before he could finish, the kid suddenly bounced up off the ground like a fish out of water, kicked Tao Liulang flying, and somehow the ropes tying him had already come loose.
The beggar had intended to kick Liulang aside and run, throwing in a couple insults at Harano while he escaped. But the moment he landed, a stab of pain shot through his hip, his leg gave out, almost dropping him to his knees; his throat went salt-sweet, and after stumbling a couple steps, everything went black and he faceplanted again.
Shit, I'm screwed. Of all the dangers I, Ah Man, have faced—dodging blades and arrows—didn't think I'd trip up in some damn gutter. Might really die here!
Grandpa, Ah Qing, you have to avenge me!